The isolation ward of Gulu Municipal Hospital, Gulu, Uganda, during an outbreak of Ebola hemorrhagic fever in October 2000 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Abstract

Ebola virus (EBOV) is a member of the filoviridae family that causes severe hemorrhagic fever during sporadic outbreaks, and no approved treatments are currently available. The multifunctional EBOV VP35 protein facilitates immune evasion by antagonizing antiviral signaling pathways and is important for viralRNA synthesis. In order to elucidate regulatory mechanisms and to develop countermeasures, we recently solved the structures of the Zaire and Reston EBOV VP35 interferon inhibitory domain (IID) in the free form and of the Zaire EBOV VP35 IID bound to dsRNA. Together with biochemical, cell biological and virological studies, our structural work revealed that distinct regions within EBOV VP35 IID contribute to virulence through host immune evasion and viral RNA synthesis. Here we summarize our recent structural and functional studies and discuss the potential of multifunctional Ebola VP35 as a therapeutic target.

Promising results from several babies born with HIV and treated with antiretroviral drugs within hours of birth had led to hopes that such early interventions could prevent the virus establishing reservoirs in the body and offer a cure for the disease, but one by one the virus reemerged in these patients once they were weaned from their medications. Most recently, doctors in Italy reported on a child who had been placed on an antiretroviral regimen within hours of birth and had long had no detectable viral load in his bloodstream. At the age of three, he was taken off the medication, and within two weeks showed signs of the virus again. More…Discuss

Giving Viruses a License to Kill…Cancer The lab of Dr. Mark Federspiel at the Mayo Clinic, where the measles virus is being grown in bioreactors for the next clinical trial coming up in September. Photo by Mayo Clinic

Researchers are cautiously optimistic about an experimental cancer treatment that uses a modified measles virus to target and kill cancerous cells. Two out of six multiple myelomapatients who were treated with extremely high doses of the engineered viruses responded to the treatment, with one appearing to enter into complete remission. These two patients were found to have few or no circulating measles antibodies, important because this affords the virus a chance to attack the cancer cells before the patient’s immune system begins fighting off the virus. More…Discuss

Uganda’s president is urging citizens to refrain from having physical contact following the news that a person infected with the Ebola virusdied in the capital. Since the Ebola outbreak began in westernUganda three weeks ago, the virus has claimed at least 14 lives. It initially went undetected because patients were not showing some of the typical symptoms, such as hemorrhaging. Ebola is extremely virulent and often fatal. It has no known cure and no vaccine. Health officials hope that isolating those infected and disrupting the chain of transmission will be sufficient to contain the outbreak. More…Discuss